Principal Reflections

Dear Parents and Carers,

Regina's Visit

Yesterday, we had the privilege of welcoming Mrs Regina Menz into our school to visit classrooms and engage with staff. Regina loved being at St Ed’s and spending time in the classrooms and chatting with the students about their learning.

Share and Celebrate

At St Edward's School, we are committed to providing the best possible education for every student. A key part of this commitment is ensuring our teachers have the tools and skills they need to excel. This is why we are investing in professional development focused on High-Impact Teaching Strategies.

High-Impact Teaching Strategies are research-backed approaches that have been proven to improve student learning outcomes significantly. They are not fads or trends, but effective, evidence-based methods that help teachers engage students more deeply, differentiate instruction to meet diverse needs, and foster critical thinking skills. By focusing on these strategies, we can ensure that every classroom is a place of powerful, practical learning. Our professional development has involved our staff choosing a strategy or idea that they have implemented in their classroom and sharing it with the staff. 

I would like to share three of the fantastic, innovative ideas from our teachers across the areas of feedback, questioning, retrieval practice and generative AI.

# In Year 6, they are using their own movie star, Charlie Hague, as a character in a video to recreate a scene involving a serious incident at school. The students in Year Six were asked to watch the prompt (video), collaborate together and then determine the level of guilt concerning the student who allegedly set the school sports shed on fire - great use of generative AI to support programming.

Click here to watch the video. So engaging and fun. Well done, Year 6!

# Year 2 has been focusing on Retrieval Practice in Grammar. This is a significant focus to ensure that children are constantly revising and being supported to use these skills in their writing! Click here to see the Retrieval Practice in Year 2 Grammar.

# Year 1 has been working on fast, effective feedback. The attached PDF explains how the team uses the waterfall chart to ensure Year 1 students understand the expectations for feedback from the teacher, peers, and self-reflection. Well done, Year 1!  

Thanks to our Curriculum Team and our teachers for their excellent work to implement high-impact teaching strategies in their classes.

Next week, I will be attending a Principals' Conference in Armidale. I look forward to collaborating with other Principals across our system of schools and exploring ways to improve our schools further.

Until next time,

Keep Smiling,

Alison Hatton

Until next week,

Keep smiling, 

Alison Hatton

(Principal)